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eOffice
Directorate of Information Technology

A. Problem Analysis

 1. What was the problem before the implementation of the initiative?
Large volumes of files are managed and processed in all the Government offices which include documents like policies, forms, decisions, circulars, guidelines and standards, annual reports, office orders, office memorandums, manuals and so on. The physical file movement of these documents incurs a lot of time and requires a continuous monitoring from desk to desk before the final decision is made by the senior officials. Consequently, many crucial decisions get delayed due to the low movement of files and/or non availability or absence of the senior officials in the office for clearing these files. Theft and missing of files is also not uncommon in most of the government offices.

B. Strategic Approach

 2. What was the solution?
Government of Maharashtra has studied various solutions similar to eOffice and then made a decision to implement eOffice. Further GoM has made a phase wise implementation plans and issued guidelines time to time for smooth implementation. Policy framework: State of Maharashtra has issued various resolutions and circulars time to time to support the eOffice initiative. • Government resolutions issued on 6th August 2013 and 9th August 2013 regarding eOffice implementation and formation of various committees for eOffice implementation in the state. • Circular issued on 5th March making eOffice mandatory for few departments in the state • Circular issued on 20th August regarding the prerqusites and readiness for eOffice which is applicable for all government offices across the state. Leadership Drive: eOffice project is a flagship project of Government of Maharashtra under the close monitoring of Hon’ble Chief Minister and Hon’ble Chief Secretary. RajBhavan (Governor House), Chief Minister’s office, Chief Secretary’s office are first few offices to start eOffice implementation. Continuous Capacity Building and Change Management: Using eOffice in day to day activities is a paradigm shift in government offices. Until users are comfortable with basic skills on computers and typing, taking a leap towards eOffice is not possible. DIT has identified the need for capacity building and change Management and strategized continuous trainings, workshops to address this challenge.Hence to bring the awareness and to encourage users to use computers more often DIT undertook several initiatives as below: • Workshops on basics of Computers are conducted • Workshops on Marathi typing are conducted • ISM tool has been developed and distributed across the state with help of CDAC • Several batches of ISM training covering thousands of users are conducted in Yashada • Tech Saturday programs are conducted across the state to bring awareness about various technology changes • Employee’s children who performed well in their 10th and 12th standards are felicitated by DIT and workshop is conducted on career opportunities. Many parents also participated in the event and they get motivated and inspired to use ICT in their day to work. • Incentives have been given to for best performing nodal officers as part of the change management process. • Virtual Cadre Policy has been announced, which will allow government officers to take active participation in the initiatives such as eOffice. As per this Policy, Mantralaya staff will be working on deputation on eGovernance initiatives and will also receive special pay. Strong Support Mechanism: NIC as an implementation partner has deployed necessary manpower to implement eOffice. There are dedicated eOffice support engineers provided for each department. In addition, a project implementation unit and support group has been set up. This structure is ensuring support to all users across locations. Support desk has been made operational on extended hours on week days and weekends and holidays. Stake holders Involvement: For all the eOffice implementations in the state of Maharashtra, nodal officer from the departments, and core implementation committees have been formed to ensure right stake holder participation and structured decision making. Adapting a Unified Standard set of applications: All 7 Modules of eOffice provide a complete set of uniform and standard applications for running a government administrative procedures. Leave Management, Tour Management, Service Book maintenance, Leave management are simplified and automated in eOffice. In order to bring the unified standard approach, parallel systems are being phased out and Integration other applications is in progress.
 3. How did the initiative solve the problem and improve people’s lives?
eOffice is a product by NIC built on open framework with latest technology stack. Extensive involvement of Directorate of IT, and extensive use of the application by several users in Mantralaya, have given feedback to NIC and key changes in the have been made in the eOffice product, which are replicated in all instances. Feedback on key security aspects such as making Digital signature mandatory for all files moving in eOffice, integrating the DSC revocations by CCA with eOffice application are given to NIC and have been taken up by the development team. Feedback regarding the Digital Signature multiplicity of digital signatures has been taken up DIT with NICCA to ensure any government employee of Government of Maharashtra will have only single DSC token throughout his/her service. Government resolution regarding usage of Digital signature is being drafted by DIT. With help of NIC, eOffice application is being tested across operating systems (MAC, Linux etc.), across browsers (IE, Chrome etc.). In addition mobile eOffice has started in Sindhudurg to access eLeave and KMS. For Mantralaya, Mobile eOffice is underway, which will enable all the IAS officers across the state to send their leave application directly to Chief Secretary from their mobile phones. Currently, eFile of eOffice cannot be accessed from mobile phones due to the limitations of digital signatures. DIT has taken the initiative to talk to Samsung, Mozerbear, Mobme and vendors to explore the means and ways of executing eFile on Mobile Phone.

C. Execution and Implementation

 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
At the planning stage of eOffice, Government of Maharashtra had to decide which departments should be taken on board for eOffice implementation on a pilot basis. Considering the fact that eOffice should begin in such a department which defines leadership to implement the change in Government Office functioning, it was decided that eOffice should begin with the Chief Minister‟s office and Governor‟s Office. This move helped in spreading the eOffice buzz and interestingly resulted in other departments requesting for speedy eOffice implementation in their offices and organizations. In order to drive an ICT based project like this one, it was imperative to include IT Department in the list of starters while considering the high number of files and letters received in an office, National Rural Health Mission‟s offices in Mumbai and Pune were selected for pilot implementation.
 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
The software has been designed and developed by National Informatics Centre. For all the eOffice implementations in the state of Maharashtra, nodal officer from the departments, and core implementation committees have been formed to ensure right stake holder participation and structured decision making. For Mantralaya implementation, at the beginning of the project 3 committees have been formed as listed below: Steering Committee Hon‟ble Chief Secretary Director General .NIC Principal Secretary, General Administration Department Secretary, IT Addl. Chief Secretary GAD(*O&M) Principle Secretary to Hon‟ble CM Director, NRHM District Collector, Sindhudurg Support Group Deputy Secretary,I.T Deputy Secretary, GAD, O&M Deputy Secretary ,GAD, Services Implementation Group & Task force Under Secretary-IT Asst. Director NRHM One section officer from GAD (services) 1-2 members from NIC Principal.Consultant, DIT And Project management consultants
 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
The project was entirely funded by the Government of Maharashtra
 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
More than 6000 users in one instance, Maharashtra Secretariat is the largest ever eOffice implementation so far in the country. All levels of users from assistants, clerks to Secretaries, and Hon‟ble State Ministers and cabinet ministers and their staff have been brought on board • 35 district collectors, 35 RDCs, 8 divisional commissioners, deputy Divisional commissioners exchange files with Mantralaya instantly. IAS officers across the state exchange files via eOffice. Even officers apply for leaves remotely using eOffice • Extensive capacity building ,change management, infrastructure support, implementation support provided by DIT • District consultants, District Project Managers, Departmental consultants appointed by DIT have been the extended arm for eOffice implementation team • Synergy in all eOffice implementations is being brought by hosting the application at SDC and sharing the resources and knowledge gained. Interoperability, integration, Innovation and technology advancement is the way ahead for eOffice in the state • During Session assembly (Adhiveshan) sending LAQ‟s has become so easy by e-file, it hardly takes any time. LAQ‟s are sent within 5 minutes!! Even the follow up of the same can be taken easily.
 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
For all the eOffice implementations in the state of Maharashtra, nodal officer from the departments, and core implementation committees have been formed to ensure right stake holder participation and structured decision making. Monthly meetings of the committees under the chairmanship of Hon‟ble Chief Secretary, and weekly/bi-weekly meetings with nodal officers under the chairmanship of Director, I.T to track the progress and address issues.
 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
1. Capacity Building 2. Infrastructure 3. Leadership 4. Implementation Support

D. Impact and Sustainability

 10. What were the key benefits resulting from this initiative?
Transparency & Accountability has been the one of the best advantages brought by eOffice. The documents or the files are preserved forever. There are no chances of the files being misplaced, modified or lost. There is an absolute transparency as anything once written on the file cannot be changed or undone. The files cannot be kept pending as the system is designed to give feedback and monitoring mechanism Quick disposal of files and systematic, timely Monitoring of pending files has been the other immediate advantage of eOffice. Exact position of receipts and files are available at any point time to all required employees, which made file tracing lot simpler and easier. Instant file exchange: The files from other districts can be received with in fraction of seconds, which previously use to take number of days. This has also reduced the financial burden related to transport expenditures of the staff moving to and fro with the documents eOffice gives a Single Employee directory that aids better communication.
 11. Did the initiative improve integrity and/or accountability in public service? (If applicable)
Transparency & Accountability has been the one of the best advantages brought by eOffice. The documents or the files are preserved forever. There are no chances of the files being misplaced, modified or lost. There is an absolute transparency as anything once written on the file cannot be changed or undone. The files cannot be kept pending as the system is designed to give feedback and monitoring mechanism Quick disposal of files and systematic, timely Monitoring of pending files has been the other immediate advantage of eOffice. Exact position of receipts and files are available at any point time to all required employees, which made file tracing lot simpler and easier. Instant file exchange: The files from other districts can be received with in fraction of seconds, which previously use to take number of days. This has also reduced the financial burden related to transport expenditures of the staff moving to and fro with the documents eOffice gives a Single Employee directory that aids better communication. As we know Knowledge is wealth and now using KMS knowledge can be preserved in an organized fashion in KMS (Knowledge Management System),which has a centralized, easily accessible knowledge base for all our employees. Simplification and standardization of government processes and procedures, elimination of unproductive/ non-value-adding work, and reduction in paperwork has been other advantage of eOffice. eOffice by NIC is the most secured and Cost-effectiveness solution as compared to any other solution. High profile users work on files remotely when they are away from office. Commissioner (FW) & Mission Director, NRHM says “During my Uttar Pradesh tour, I approved around 360 files remotely related to both Mumbai and Pune NRHM offices. This was not possible during my earlier tours.” In the leave management system, Leave Records are updated instantly and there is need to maintain a separate leave record. Also leave orders are generated immediately from the system. This saved lot of time and effort of establishment department. In addition to the above benefits long terms results of the eOffice have been as below • Seamless integration of various other applications with eOffice • Creating an e-environment for the employees • Simplifying the future with good infrastructure and increased awareness on computers • Building a Citizen interface to facilitate the whereabouts and action taken on grievances, applications, petitions, RTI, etc. • Paving a way for the transition to a Paperless/ Less Paper Office
 12. Were special measures put in place to ensure that the initiative benefits women and girls and improves the situation of the poorest and most vulnerable? (If applicable)
eOffice is a long term sustainable project of Government of Maharashtra. Key requirements for sustenance of any project are as below: 1. Funding: 0.5% of each department’s budget is given for eGovernance initiatives of the departments. Funds from this allocation can be spent by departments on eOffice. 2. Infrastructure: Directorate of IT is supporting all the departments by providing the necessary infrastructure. Many other MMPs such as NKN, eDistrict, SWAN, CCTNS are underway across departments which will can also compensate the infrastructure readiness for departments in remote locations. Strategy has been formed that all state government instances will be set up in State Data Center, which is maintained by DIT. For other offices and autonomous bodies, eOffice will be deployed in the respective data centers. For all other offices, hosting will be done at National Data Center. 3. Leadership support: As stated in above sections, eOffice is a flagship project with support from Hon’ble Chief Secretary and Hon’ble Chief Minister. With the directives from leadership and support from DIT and local departments, eOffice has long sustainability and bright future 4. Implementation Support: DIT is providing support to each district and department by providing manpower at various capacities a. District and Divisional Consultants by DIT to support the initiative at district level b. Departmental consultants by DIT to support the process study and implementation of initiatives in the state. c. Additional District Project Managers by DIT, stationed at districts to support initiative in the districts d. In addition, NIC in Maharashtra has expanded the eOffice team in the state to support this initiative across the state. 5. Ownership transfer to departments: From the time of inception of the project, project team ensures the participation from all the relevant stake holders from departments. Departmental users are made part of the implementation, process study, data gathering, configuration, status tracking etc. All users trained and nodal officers and champions are identified and empowered to be self-sufficient in resolving minor issues related to eOffice. Arrangements are being made with NIC to provide a continuous support during implementation and long term product support after implementation.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Directorate of Information Technology
Institution Type:   Government Department  
Contact Person:   Virendra Singh
Title:   Director IT  
Telephone/ Fax:   022-22026534
Institution's / Project's Website:  
E-mail:   director.it@maharashtra.gov.in  
Address:   DIT, 7th Floor, Mantrlaya Annex, Madam Cama Road
Postal Code:   400032
City:   Mumbai
State/Province:   Maharashtra
Country:  

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